When it comes to sustainability strategies, collaborative distribution is the total package: improved business value proposition, sizable cost reduction and promise of significant emissions reductions. The potential of this strategy is why EDF listed it #2 on our Five Rules for a More Carbon-Efficient Freight Supply Chain. Under a collaborative distribution arrangement, companies in the [...]
Timing is everything, and companies facing choices around freight transportation modes must consider transit times, inventory levels and demand forecasts when making decisions. Ease pressure on these variables and you enable companies to utilize cheaper and more carbon-efficient modes of transportation. In many cases, companies can increase the flexibility of their supply chains by developing [...]
Fuel prices are back on the rise and companies are taking stock of opportunities to reduce costs and exposure to oil price spikes. The future trends in freight growth also call attention to the need to dramatically improve the efficiency of the current freight system. From 2010 to 2040, global demand for energy to power [...]
The most impactful sustainability decision made by logisticians is the choice of transportation mode to move their freight. Planes emit 47 times more carbon per ton mile than container ships; trucks emit six times more carbon per ton mile than trains. The more carbon intensive modes typically cost more as well. A recent article in [...]
Tuesday Morning, an “off-price” retailer with over 850 stores, has been able to transition 20% of its inbound freight to a rail/truck intermodal mix, according to Logistics Management. The goods typically travel from Asia to the ports of LA and Long Beach. From there they travel over 1,400 miles to the company’s one distribution center, [...]
Today, more than 50 million tons of freight are on the move throughout the United States. Many products can be found onboard ships in our nation’s largest ports. Some of the heaviest cargo is moving along in rail cars, and a few of the highest value items are flying in the belly of planes.. And [...]
On the train back north from the U. S. Freight Sustainability Summit this past Friday, two thoughts kept circling around in my mind: First, the U. S. EPA SmartWay program has created a powerful coalition working on freight sustainability, and its efforts have produced significant benefits for the environment, economy and energy security. Second, the [...]
Hanjin Shipping recently released a calculator “that enables a shipper to calculate CO2 emissions for transporting a container by period, multiple destinations and bill of lading number.” This new calculator, which includes factors from the Clean Cargo working group of BSR, was the latest in a recent series of announcements by freight carriers and logistics [...]
An article in the Wall Street Journal the other day got me thinking: what are all the operational strategies companies are using today to move freight more efficiently? The article highlighted an effort of Alcatel-Lucent, a 2010 Climate Corps company, to reduce its carbon footprint 50% by 2020. Improving the carbon-efficiency of its logistics operations [...]
A recent whitepaper by American Shipper floated across my desk the other day. Environmental Sustainability Benchmark Study: Leaders Prepare for the “Greening” Supply Chain examined how 200 transportation buyers were factoring in sustainability as they sourced goods movement services. The impetus for the study was the sense that a growing number of shippers were asking [...]
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